Challenge
by flames-and-fics
Summary: "Welcome to the mafia, Decimo." "Thank you," Tsuna said. "I'd appreciate it more if there wasn't a gun pointed at my face." 100 prompts centering around Reborn and Tsuna. Slight AU and eventual R27
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Here, have some (short) prompts.

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 _challenge_

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 **1\. Introduction**

Their first meeting was… different.

Eyes bright with flames, Tsuna stared back at the calm onyx gaze directed at him, then to the barrel of the gun pointed between his eyes. Another _visitor_ \- the third one this week - but a good one if he could get passed the illusions Chrome set up and the guards trained by both Hibari and Gokudera.

"Who are you?" Tsuna asked, not moving an inch from his seat, hands clasped together on the desk.

The man smirked. "Reborn," he answered easily enough. Tsuna recognized the name; Reborn, one of the Strongest Seven - the strongest of them, according to rumors. He hadn't thought their meeting would turn out like this, not when he was informed that the Arcobaleno were a neutral group with no alliance to anyone but themselves.

"Why are you here?"

"To give my greetings," Reborn said. He tipped his fedora. "Welcome to the mafia, Decimo."

"Thank you," Tsuna said. "I'd appreciate it more if there wasn't a gun pointed at my face."

Reborn chuckled, a quiet, low sound that was faint in Tsuna's ears. "I'm afraid this is how it's done here."

"Then let's change that," Tsuna said. He extinguished the fire burning in his eyes, on his forehead, and looked at the assassin with wide, honey colored eyes filled with a warmth even mafia couldn't change. He carefully stood from his seat and extended a hand to the other man. Intuition told him he wouldn't be a danger even with the gun in his hand. "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi, Vongola Decimo. Nice to meet you, Reborn."

There was a pause after his greeting where they stared at each other, assessing, waiting, until Reborn lowered the arm holding his gun and fully covered his eyes with the brim of his fedora. He didn't take the offered hand, but he did say, in a voice filled with amusement, "Chaos, Tsunayoshi. It's a pleasure to meet you."

 **2\. Complicated**

When Gokudera walked into Tsuna's office to find his boss talking with the deadliest hitman the world had to offer, he knew he couldn't let that stand.

"Tenth, what are you doing?" Gokudera exclaimed, jabbing a finger at the man lounging on Tsuna's desk, mug of coffee in hand, without a care in the world. "Why is he here?"

Tsuna blinked, his previous conversation lost. "Oh, Gokudera, what's wrong? Do you need me to check something?" He seemed unperturbed by the fact that there was a hitman - a stranger, really - sitting _on_ his workplace. Gokudera felt his eye twitch when Reborn sipped at his drink, an infuriating smirk on his lips.

"Tenth, there's a hitman sitting on your desk."

"I know that, Gokudera. It's kind of hard not to notice him."

Gokudera felt like burning something when the hitman let out a noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle - preferably the hitman himself, if he could get him away from Tsuna's very important documents. " _Why_ is he sitting on your desk?"

"Oh, we were just talking."

Gokudera slammed the door behind him, vein pulsing at his temple, when the hitman all but choked on his coffee and laughed.

 **3\. Making History**

"He's the first person you warmed up to outside of us."

Reborn glanced over to Fon who sat beside him, nursing a cup of tea in his hands as he stared out into the yard of the Giglio Nero base. Though they weren't part of the Family, Aria, their current Sky, welcomed them to stop by whenever they wanted.

"There's Dino," Reborn reminded.

"You don't stop by the Cavallone base every other day to make small talk with Dino," Fon said. "When was the last time you visited him?"

"A month." At Fon's knowing smile, Reborn added, "It's only because I was on a job."

"Yes, but that same job ended around three weeks ago."

"I was… distracted."

"By Vongola Decimo." Fon smiled, knowing and sly. "We'd best mark this one down into the books. Reborn has a crush on a mafia boss."

"Shut up, Fon."

"I don't hear a no."

"You won't hear anything once I'm done with you."

 **4\. Rivalry**

Rivalry wasn't expected in their odd relationship but somehow it ended up settling there anyway. Especially now when Tsuna insisted Reborn should help him shoot a gun.

"I'm no good with firearms," Tsuna admitted to him one day after dragging him down to the shooting alley. He said this as he shot the paper dummy, bullet ripping a hole right between its eyes.

Reborn didn't believe him for a second.

"Someone else could've helped you," Reborn said as he, too, shot the same dummy. The bullet went right through the hole Tsuna made.

"They're all busy," Tsuna said, taking aim. He stayed quiet for a moment, steadied his hand and shot. The bullet strayed slightly to the right, just enough to tear the hole slightly bigger. He frowned. "Gokudera's the best at shooting, but he's so caught up doing other things that I'd feel bad if I asked him to do this."

Reborn clicked his tongue, aimed and fired. It went perfectly through. "And what about me?"

"What about you?"

"I'm a busy man," Reborn said.

"Then you're welcome to leave whenever you want," he said.

When Reborn didn't move, covering his eyes with his fedora, Tsuna smiled.

 **5\. Unbreakable**

Reborn pressed the offered towel to his face and wiped off the sweat rolling down his cheeks and dripping from his chin. Dressed down to his dress shirt and a pair of slacks, blazer, tie, and fedora thrown haphazardly to the side of the room, he felt a pleasing coolness against his skin with every press of his sweat dampened clothes.

"Again."

Reborn glanced out of the corner of his eye at Tsuna, clothes soaked and sticking to his body like second skin. He turned his face back into the soft material of the towel. "That was your twelfth loss, Tsuna," he said. "If we continue, someone's bound to get hurt, and I'll tell you now that it won't be me."

Unafraid, Tsuna's eyes flickered orange at the subtle challenge, his lips tilting up into a smile.

"Let's see about that."

 **6\. Obsession**

When Reborn started thinking about how he'd fit time with Tsuna in between his jobs, he admitted that he had a very small, very insignificant obsession.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with it.

So why was Colonello staring at him as though he'd done some unmentionable wrong?

"You're obsessed, kora!"

"It's not as grand as you think it is," Reborn said. It really wasn't. Sometimes a thought of what Tsuna was doing would cross his mind during the day, or he'd see something that'd remind him of the brunet and quirk a small, split-second smile - but that was it.

"You probably think about him twenty-four seven!"

Not really. Only a few seconds for each thought. Around fifty thoughts per hour. And every hour he wasn't spending doing a job. No, not twenty-four seven.

"I don't."

"Liar," Colonello scoffed. He pointed a finger at him. "I can see it in your eyes, kora. You're in deep."

Reborn didn't deign that with an answer.

 **7\. Eternity**

A week passed.

Tsuna tried not to think about it, but his desk felt too spacious for just his paperwork now even though documents were piled high and spilling over the edges. The smell of coffee that had become a part of his office was fading, lingering in the corners of the room as it was pushed out with time. Tsuna, who didn't even like the drink, often made a cup of it just to keep the smell stronger.

Reborn was a busy man - he said so himself down in the shooting alley - and Tsuna was too. There was work to be done, and Reborn surely had his fair share to finish. If Tsuna was smart, he'd start his work now so that he could finish with time to spare. Gokudera mentioned time and time again that he was falling behind on paperwork, not so subtly contributing it to the fact he spent most of his working hours talking to a certain hitman who wasn't even allied to Vongola.

He really should be working right now. He never let paperwork get this bad, and with Reborn out he'd be able to concentrate a little more.

Except he couldn't.

Groaning, Tsuna pressed the heel of his palms against his eyes. He really shouldn't be this concerned. Reborn was a hitman, the best there was, and he could take care of himself. He was probably on a job thousands of miles away, having the time of his life shooting bullets through people's heads. It didn't matter that he hadn't bothered to tell Tsuna when he'd come back; Tsuna was not his boss or keeper.

With that thought in mind, he delved into the stacks of paper surrounding him, ignoring each tick of the clock that went by without Reborn there.

 **8\. Gateway**

Standing before the Vongola base, Reborn could only stare at the wrecked visage before him burnt and broken. The gates to the Vongola manor, which used to stand tall and firm, were melted and pulled apart in some places and utterly destroyed in others. The entire courtyard was deserted, crater-filled, and bare.

What happened?

Wary, he carefully made his way through the barren battlefield on high alert. Leon, who remained his faithful companion for grounds like these, was at the Giglio Nero base where he dropped him off after his job, but he still had a hand gun he kept hidden in his blazer on hand. Pulling his spare weapon out, he pushed open the grand double doors of the Vongola mansion -

\- only to duck when a sofa was flung his way. It shattered against the concrete of the walkway behind him, broken wood and torn cushions lying as its remains.

"Reborn?"

Tsuna stood at the base of the stairs, eyes alight with flames, hands burning with clear fire. He looked like he was fighting for his life on the battlefield, dress shirt untucked, blazer and pants ripped and torn, minor scratches decorating what little skin Reborn could see. He looked both relieved and horrified that he was here.

"Tsuna," Reborn said as he glanced around the inside of the mansion. The place was a mess. Furniture was either broken or overturned, some walls were caved in or obliterated altogether, and shattered glass scattered across the carpeted floor. "What happened?"

"I, uh, nothing, really- " An ear-splitting explosion shook their bones. Faint, familiar voices threw taunts and threats down the hall. "I think you should leave now, Reborn. This isn't a very good time."

Reborn smirked. "I disagree."

"Reborn- " Tsuna started, but the hitman had already left, disappearing around one of the corners as he followed the not-so-distant sound of his Guardians duking it out in the west wing.

Not a moment later, Reborn stood supreme, an exhilarated gleam in his eyes as he watched Hibari, his only conscious Guardian left, struggle under the weight of his foot.

Tsuna feared that yet another battle-crazed person had entered his life.

 **9\. Death**

Tsuna stared down at the bloody heap of charred flesh and bones around him, feeling the age-old ache behind his eyes and the urge to gag at the horrid stench filling up his bedroom.

This was the second time this week, but the first time anyone had tried a group assault.

When he made his way out, soaked socks squelching a sickening sound as he walked, Tsuna went over to Gokudera's room a few doors down.

"Can you clean up for me?" Tsuna asked right when the door swung open. His Storm wore a pinched expression, but he rubbed the sand out of his eyes and nodded. No further questions asked; by now, this had become a routine.

As Tsuna strode into one of the many guestrooms in the mansion, settling into it as he peeled off his blood-stained clothes, he wondered if this would ever become something normal. He wondered if death would ever become something he'd never feel the need to balk at every time he saw it - every time he was the one to carry it out.

He hoped, one day, it would.

 **10\. Opportunities**

Reborn sipped at his morning coffee, staring.

"How rare," he murmured, setting his mug on the coffee table as he stood. Sprawled against the desk, pen still held between limp fingers, Tsuna slept like the dead. Usually, the young boss was particular about his sleeping schedule. He finished work in a semi-orderly fashion, cutting down towers of paperwork even while making small talk with Reborn, and most of the time, their exchanges would end once Tsuna deemed enough work had been done and kicked Reborn out so he could sleep.

He rapped his knuckles against Tsuna's desk, sharp enough in the silence to jar any light-sleeper back into the world of living. "Tsuna, get up." The boss still had several reports to file through, and Reborn was feeling generous enough to wake him up so that he could finish.

When Tsuna didn't stir, not even a twitch of his eyebrow or a half-asleep groan, Reborn narrowed his eyes. He brushed away brown bangs and looked at the slumbering brunet. Upon closer inspection, Reborn could see faint bags beneath Tsuna's eyes, the way his brows were pulled together even in his dreamworld, and the slight paleness of his complexion. He wondered how he didn't notice before, how he didn't see passed the bright smiles Tsuna often wore.

"Tch." How short-sighted of him to forget that Tsuna had his own way of misdirection.

Pressing a thumb against Tsuna's forehead, Reborn brushed it back and forth until furrowed brows smoothed out and ran his fingers through untamed hair to massage Tsuna's head until he let out a quiet sigh. Reborn huffed.

"Idiot," he said with no bite.

He continued to lull Tsuna into a more peaceful rest, idly running his hand through his hair, the silence and warm morning light blanketing them in a moment theirs to share but only Reborn's to remember.

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 **A/N:** I was restless and wanted to do something, so I cross-posted this and will probably do more later on. Apologies for any mistakes found and, as always, thank you for reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Look, more prompts (that may or may not flow)!

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 _challenge_

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 **11\. 33%**

33%

That was the chance of Tsuna succeeding in his plan for Vongola. It was a risk, it was completely outrageous, it was something Tsuna never thought he'd ever have to do in a million years - but he swore to the Vongola heads before him that he would once he accepted the ring and Tsuna wasn't someone who would back down on his word no matter how improbable it seemed. Getting rid of Vongola's sins, of the parasites still clinging onto it, of every ill intent he could make out - he would make it happen not only because of his promise, but because Vongola was _his_ now.

It was his to care for, his to grow, and Tsuna refused to let it continue down this path now that he inherited it.

He'd make it safe for his Family, safe for his friends. He'd make it into something to be proud of.

He'll take that 33% and _make_ it a 100%.

 **12\. Dead Wrong  
**  
"He's too young."

"Yes, I heard that he used to be a civilian as well. Knowing _this_ was Timeteo's chosen successor makes one wonder how Vongola will fare."

"A weak Boss will only lead to an even weaker Family. It won't be long before there are inner disputes and attacks from the outside if the boy doesn't prove himself."

Tipping the brim of his fedora just high enough to make out the gentleman gossiping beside him, Reborn made note to remember them before redirecting his eyes back to Tsuna, who was talking with the ever affable Gesso Boss on the other side of the room, unaware of both the comments being made about him and Reborn's stare. He smiled at something Byakuran said, looking unbothered when the white-haired man threw an arm around his shoulders and led them over to where the Funeral Wreaths sat fighting over food. Considering Tsuna's usual need for space, Reborn assumed that they were friends if he allowed him that close.

As Reborn's eyes continued to trail after Tsuna, he wondered if the Tsuna he saw and the Tsuna the other men saw were the same Tsuna. He saw hidden strength underneath Tsuna's kind smiles, the way his eyes would flicker with his perfectly controlled and beautifully clear flames, and how he never stepped back or cowered before anyone before him. He stood firm, strong, and didn't give a damn about what the mafia had to throw at him because he'd throw it right back ten times over.

Reborn saw power and pride and the will to fight. If Tsuna had a weakness, one that could keep him from being a competent Boss, then Reborn didn't see it.

 **13\. Running Away  
**  
He was afraid.

Tsuna knew. He knew it like he knew blood flowed through his veins or how he knew the sun would rise again in the morning no matter how dark the night. He just didn't want to admit it because admitting this would mean he was what everyone around him thought he was: a faint-hearted civilian without the guts to hold his own.

For the fifth time - or was it the sixth? Seventh? - in the passed hour Tsuna yawned as he scrawled his signature on a document asking for payment to repair the damages done on the mansion during the latest squabble between his Guardians. His hand ached from the last few days of non-stop paperwork and his mind sluggishly tried to stay on top of it after several nights without sleep. His eyes, battling it out against the urge to close, failed to focus as the day wore on.

"A mafia boss shouldn't fall asleep on the job."

Sitting across from him now instead of on his desk, Reborn gave him a critical once-over with blank eyes. He held his spare gun in his hands, having been polishing it diligently for the passed hour.

Tsuna attempted to chuckle but only managed a hollow echo of it. "I'm not sleeping, Reborn." He hadn't slept for the passed two weeks after he substituted power naps in place of actual rest. "I'm not going to, either."

"You could have fooled me," Reborn said, tucking his weapon away. Standing up, he set a hand on the desk, on top of the scattered paperwork, and leaned in close. His eyes bore into Tsuna's. "You look like you're going to fall over at any minute."

Tsuna pasted a smile on his lips, a skill he learned and honed since the beginning of his training to be Decimo. Reborn wasn't fooled for a second, not this time.

"Are you worried?" Tsuna asked. He pushed back the fatigue gnawing away at his bones and focused on leveling his voice into something less exhausted.

Reborn frowned. "I'm stating facts. Look," he said, pointing at something in Tsuna's eyes. "You can barely keep your eyes open."

"I'm fi- "

"Go to sleep, Tsuna."

"I'm not tired."

Reborn parted his lips, eyes narrowed and glinting like the barrel of his polished gun, but stopped himself. He tugged down on the brim of his fedora and sealed his thoughts shut. "Fine," he said and settled back into his seat. That was it.

Tsuna didn't know whether to be more relieved that he dropped the subject or that he didn't leave.

 **14\. Judgment**

Blood pooled out across the floor he walked on, rippling with each step he took. Everywhere he turned he saw lifeless bodies glare back at him, saw open mouths crying out in outrage, and he choked on the sobs rising up his chest. This was a familiar nightmare, one that had accompanied him each night since he had become Vongola Decimo, dragged him through gore and the stink of death, over and over again. Still, he couldn't stop the dread clogged in his throat or the desperation that clawed at him with every familiar face.

Above, there were eyes glaring down at him. They were eyes he saw no matter the hour, aged with years and sharpened with a wisdom certain that he would fail, would eventually cave under the fact that death had made a home in his hands and in his flames, forever a part of him that he'd never be able to wash away.

Tsuna had always met each obstacle head-on, but this time, just this once, his conviction faltered enough to let him believe they were right.

 **15\. Seeking Solace**

Tsuna was hanging between consciousness and sleep when he heard the familiar click and grind of the window popping open then sliding back into place, the locks snapping shut. He didn't make a move to greet Reborn, too close to finally sleeping properly for the first time in a while to remind himself of manners, but it didn't seem like Reborn minded all that much when he heard a quiet huff and muted footsteps making their way over to his desk.

"Finally sleeping?" Reborn asked. He slid onto the desk, minding the few scattered documents still on it. There was a slight pause, a moment of complete silence where Tsuna thought Reborn decided to just do nothing but entertain his thoughts, but then there were fingers pressing into his scalp, fingers sliding through his hair, and Tsuna didn't even tense because he was already relaxing into the touch.

"Not yet," he mumbled into his arms. The fingers stopped for a split second, enough for Tsuna to think Reborn had hesitated, but then they resumed their soothing motions as if they hadn't paused in the first place.

"Would you like me to leave?" Reborn asked, and Tsuna would have been surprised if he had been any other person, but he wasn't. Reborn had always respected him, if only his boundaries and the lines he shouldn't cross, but he also asked for confirmation. Never had Reborn done something to deliberately hinder his work or invade his personal space, and this - asking if he was stepping too close to uncomfortable - was normal between them.

Tsuna considered it for a moment. Gokudera would no doubt throw a fit for letting his guard down around someone so dangerous, but Reborn also wasn't, not to him. He trusted Reborn.

"It's fine," he said, adjusting himself slightly so that he was more comfortable. "Just- can you keep doing that until I'm asleep?"

He couldn't see, but he was sure Reborn was smiling when he said, "Of course."

 **16\. Excuses**

"You _pet_ Vongola Decimo."

"I didn't pet him."

Fon used a sleeve to hide what Reborn already knew was a smile. "Right," he said, agreement too easy for it to be anything but the prelude to more teasing. "You only ran your fingers through his hair and made it a _habit_."

"It's not a habit," Reborn said,

"Oh?" Fon shot him a sly glance. "What would you call it besides a habit? You _never_ touch other people unless it's to bodily harm them."

Perhaps it was the way Fon rarely worded his rebuttals so bluntly, but he gave Reborn an appeasing look in an attempt to lessen the impact of his words. There was no point. Reborn was rather unaffected by it anyway, since he knew it was true. There was little he needed to touch anyone for beyond ending their lives, yet he had felt inclined to run his fingers through Tsuna's hair, liked how natural it felt to do so, _enjoyed_ it.

"You're too obvious, Reborn," Fon said.

Reborn couldn't even argue with that, just clicked his tongue and looked away.

 **17\. Vengeance  
**  
Hell hath no fury like Reborn scorned.

"Calm down, Reborn," Lal warned, shooting the man a sharp look.

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't pretend that look in your eyes isn't obvious. You're glaring at the man spouting off pretty insults to the new Vongola." She swirled her wine around in her glass, lips curling into a smirk as she caught the way Reborn's nails pinched his skin when his fingers wound too tight around his own wine glass. "If you're that upset, go have your way with him _after_ this pointless gathering."

"I'm not upset."

"And I'm not the best sharp-shooter the CEDEF has to offer," Lal retorted. Her eyes slid over to the brunet across the room, spotting the discomfort in his figure even with the distance and obstructions between them.

She didn't understand why Reborn was so enamored with the Vongola Boss, couldn't even with her own observations of him along with stories and rumors she took with a grain of salt, but she knew enough to understand that Sawada Tsunayoshi was a kind person. Kindness was a rare thing here, and every ounce of it should be treasured and protected before it was crushed under the mafia's heel - more so if that kindness was directed to someone like Reborn, who very rarely received, much less accepted, such gestures.

It was enough of a reason for Lal to say, when the man pressed a little too close to Tsunayoshi, "If you need help, I can lend a hand."

 **18\. Love**

 _I could love him._

When that thought crossed his mind, Reborn pondered over it for all of five seconds before Colonello plopped down beside him with a conspiratorial grin like he knew what Reborn was thinking.

"What," Reborn said, his face perfectly blank as always.

"Lal told me you were about to maim a man. A man at a gathering - which you don't usually go to, kora. A man at a gathering who was getting a little too cozy with - "

"Shut up." Damn Lal and her mouth.

"- Sawada Tsunayoshi." Colonello thrived under Reborn's hellfire glare, features brightening as he continued without a care for the more than hostile threat gleaming in Reborn's eyes. "Fon also told me you have an _interesting_ habit now."

Damn Fon and his mouth. "I don't have a habit, though I do have a tendency to shoot idiots with loud mouths." His glare sharpened into something malicious. "Would you like to find out for yourself?"

"No, I'm fine, but you- _you_ , Reborn, need to hurry up and get yourself- _what the hell are you doing, kora_!" Colonello threw himself back and scrambled away from Reborn, bullets piercing holes just behind his toes. He shot him an offended look and would have retaliated if he had his own weapon with him.

Reborn just looked him dead in the eye, the eerie, blank look more threatening than his coldest of glares, and shot again.

 **19\. Tears  
**  
"Tsuna, wake up."

A firm hand roused him from the sleep clinging onto his consciousness, jerking Tsuna out of the nightmare he'd been plunged into. Reborn's stare was palpable as he picked apart Tsuna's expression and too tense muscles and too stiff shoulders.

"Reborn." He tried to smile - really, he did - but the phantom image of his dead Guardians bloody and broken and _because of him_ thwarted his attempt. His lips ended up twisting into something ugly instead. "Sorry, was I sleeping?"

"Yes," the hitman replied, hand still on his shoulder.

"Thanks for waking me," Tsuna said when Reborn didn't say anything else. He tried to pull himself out of his vice grip when Reborn tightened his hold. Tsuna paused and glanced up. "Reborn?

The hitman stared at him, lips pressed into a firm line, brows pulled together in thought. He held Tsuna in place as his other hand reached up, pulling the cuff of his sleeve higher. When he wiped away at his eyes, down his cheeks, Tsuna froze when he felt the cloth pressed against his skin cool with tears. He hadn't noticed he was crying at all.

"Sorry," Tsuna said quickly, pulling away. He rubbed his eyes with his own sleeve, hyper-aware of the heavy stare observing his every move. "I don't know why I'm crying. Is that why you woke me up, Reborn? I'm sorry. Thank you, though. At least it didn't get on the papers, right?" He laughed a little, trying and failing to lighten the mood.

"Tsuna."

He stopped. "Yes?"

A hand settled on his shoulder, voice low and certain. "Stop worrying. You're doing fine."

Tsuna sucked in a breath and pressed the heel of his palms to his eyes. He was doing fine.

He let out a shuddering breath.

Thank _god_.

 **20\. My Inspiration  
**

It never escaped Reborn that Tsuna was deadly - he had realized the moment that he met him, unfazed despite being on the other end of Reborn's gun - but it was something he kept under wraps. A wealth of power lying dormant until something snapped it into a concentrated weapon to wound and kill.

It didn't escape Reborn that Tsuna didn't like to hurt, either.

"Reborn?" Tsuna asked, pulling him out of his thoughts. Concern was written in his furrowed brows and searching eyes peeking over the cardboard box in his arms. "Are you okay? Do you need a break?"

Setting his share of boxes down on top of many others, Reborn raised an eyebrow and asked instead, "Do _you_ need a break?"

Tsuna huffed a laugh and went off to help his Lightning with the boxes towering well above his head, saying a hasty, "I'll be right back." Reborn wanted to sigh, to catch Tsuna by the collar of his shirt and drag him somewhere else, somewhere quiet and away from busy work, because Reborn had asked an honest question and wanted an honest answer. Instead, it'd been brushed off, avoided, and even though Reborn knew Tsuna was going to be fine it hadn't - _didn't_ make the urge go away.

The black that rimmed Tsuna's eyes was telling, though it was steadily fading, and Reborn wondered how Tsuna was coping even though he'd told him time and time again that he was better.

It would have been easy for Tsuna to silence the ones whispering behind his back, and if he hadn't wanted to then Reborn would have done it if he'd asked, but he didn't. Just stood there and took it all with a smile, and still found it within himself to care for what was his - was _good_ at it even though he wasn't at taking care of himself.

Tsuna had power, had the means and the motivation, yet he never used it - only dragged it up from its ball and chain when he wanted to protect his precious people but never for anything less than that. It was stupid and admirable, and Reborn wanted to know if he would ever be like that too, now, because he finally found someone of his own that he wanted to protect.

He decided that, if he did, he wouldn't mind.

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 **A/N:** Thanks for reading (this questionable set of prompts)!


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N:** I wasn't planning on updating today, but I felt like doing something so here it is!

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 _challenge_

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 **21\. Never Again  
**  
"So I heard you have a crush," Dino said the moment Reborn sat down, a teasing smile dancing on his lips.

His expression didn't change. "I don't have a crush," Reborn said.

"Fon and Colonello came earlier to tell me," Dino continued, tapping an idle finger on the forgotten paperwork on his desk. "Apparently, you have your sights set on Vongola Decimo? Geez, Reborn, can't you keep your hands to yourself for five minutes? He's barely been here for a year and everyone is either throwing insults in his face or tripping over their feet to meet him."

Reborn narrowed his eyes, ignoring the jibe in favor of focusing on much more important matters. "Who's insulting him?" He frowned, then, "Who's crowding around him?"

"Oh my god." Dino threw his head back, laughing. Pointing a finger at his former tutor, him said, "Colonello was right. You have it bad."

"I don't have anything," Reborn said, scowling. Damn Colonello and Fon. He'd have to make sure to keep their mouths shut or threaten then with bodily harm. There really was no difference with him. "I come here after my mission and you assault me with rumors about my feelings for a Boss I'm not even allied to. Get yourself together, Dino, or would you like to be tutored again?"

To his credit, Dino only looked mildly afraid. "I may not have Vongola Intuition, but even I can tell that you're… _smitten_ with a Boss you're not even allied to but have been visiting with surprising diligence." He paused, raising an eyebrow. "I also know that you finished your last job two months ago - two entire months you spent visiting said Boss in between lesser kills - and only just now decided to visit me."

"I was busy."

"Courting Vongola Decimo."

Dino shot him his cheekiest shit-eating grin, and Reborn decided right then and there that he was never visiting Dino again if he'd just act like Colonello or Fon, who were already overbearing in their assumptions and very lacking subtlety.

He also couldn't be blamed if he decided to aim several rounds at his former student's face. He deserved it, after all, especially if he thought he could _tease_ him without consequence.

 **22\. Online  
**  
Stepping into the basement, picking his way across the clutter of miscellaneous gears, plates, and wire, Reborn came to a stop at the screen a blond and a redhead were staring at.

The blond one glanced over at him when he noticed his arrival and offered a lazy wave, the redhead too preoccupied with snapping his eyes back and forth from the screen to the laptop to notice his presence. Reborn tipped his head in greeting, then turned his attention back to the screen as the blond one spoke.

"Your hitman friend is here, Vongola," he said around the lollipop in his mouth. He looked at the screen for a moment, eyes following the orange blur that was Vongola Decimo decimating everything in his path, then over to the laptop in the redhead's lap. "Shouichi, raise the level. Vongola's blowing through them like paper."

Shouichi nodded and, with a glimmer in his eyes carefully hidden by the glare of his glasses, quickly typed out a command that had the robotic enemies double their efforts in restraining Tsuna.

"Shouichi!" Tsuna's voice crackled from the small, old speaker, a little breathless but mostly long-suffering. Orange fire blasted from his hands, propelling him forward and away from the robots, but a glance behind him, and Tsuna grunted a sound of dissatisfaction when he saw the robots giving chase with what looked like rocket launchers on their feet. "You, too, Spanner. Both of you are out of your minds! What happened to this being a short test?"

Shouichi pushed up his glasses, eyes glued to the screen displaying gauges and numbers. "Research happened."

"You can't be- "

"Focus on your enemy," Reborn said when one of the robots nearly swatted Tsuna out of the sky with a well-aimed punch. He retaliated with a wicked kick that shot the enemy straight into the ground, leaving a crater of dented metal and torn wires no longer functioning, and Reborn had to admit that Tsuna was deadly when he fought, leaving little openings and brutally knocking his opponents out of the fight with quick efficiency.

A rough exhale, a short, "I _am_ ," and Tsuna was flying into the fray with an explosion of flames and all the conviction and skill of an angry god of fire. Reborn couldn't help but be enraptured.

 **23\. Failure  
**  
What defined a failure?

Was it the inability to perform? Was it when an outcome didn't turn out as expected? Was failure in the eye of the beholder like it was for so many others?

Either way, Tsuna had been a failure - at least, in the sense that Tsuna was and had always been a little less than what was considered average - to his childhood peers. _Used to be_ because he had continued to walk forward even if it was just a step at a time, crawled, sometimes, when his feet wouldn't hold him up, when they were kicked right from under him and he was brought to his knees by the weight of the world beating down on him every time anyone said, "Dame-Tsuna," but he overcame it. He beat back his demons with each friend he made, with each bond that grounded him, helped him keep his eyes set on the future ahead rather than past insecurities, and it took so, so long for him to reach where he was now but it was worth every second, every moment he looked around him and saw his family walking with him.

Tsuna was something now, someone respected and loved and cared for, and while it wasn't something he had ever thought he would be, it was everything he never knew he wanted before.

He had something to push him forward, to be greater, and while Tsuna may have failed in some things, it was in his family that he knew he hadn't failed yet, and would never fail for as long as he lived.

 **24\. Rebirth**

For years, Vongola had been the epitome of the Underworld. Drug dealings, trafficking, smuggling weapons and valuables in and out of the country - that was the Family Tsuna inherited, and that was the Family Tsuna vowed to change.

After a so, so long, he was beginning to see the speck of light at the end of the tunnel.

To say he was relieved would be an understatement. As of now, he could die happy.

Earlier that morning, Gokudera had come by to report to him about the progress of the purge he'd put forth to wipe away Vongola's vices, and he'd been ecstatic to hear that they'd finally - _finally_ \- discovered and were in the process of taking care of the parasites running rampant within the Family. Remembering his words, Tsuna couldn't help but smile. His hope for Vongola was taking shape.

" _You're doing fine._ "

"Did something happen?"

Tsuna glanced up to see Reborn coming through the window, an occurrence that'd been happening more often as of late. Smiling as the hitman clicked the window shut, flicking the lock into place, Tsuna put down his pen and leaned back into his seat.

"Something great," he said, eyes following Reborn as he pulled an armchair across from him and sat. "I thought you were on a job."

Reborn shrugged. "I finished it."

"And you're first decision is to come here? I'm honored."

He scoffed. "I finished two days ago. I went back and slept before coming here, for your information. Don't flatter yourself too much, Decimo."

Tsuna grinned at him, but Reborn couldn't bring himself to be annoyed by it.

 **25\. Breaking Away  
**  
"You're changing, you know," Fon told him over a cup of tea.

Reborn, nursing his mug of coffee, only hummed. He couldn't really care about what Fon had to say right now, especially since he was sure Tsuna's name would come up, and especially since it was five in the morning before he'd even finished his coffee. Honestly, Fon could've saved this conversation for later - about ten minutes later, actually - but he didn't, and now Reborn would have to hear him drivel on about the wonders Vongola Decimo was doing to his anti-social self.

Fon shot him a look, as if he knew what was going through his mind at the moment. "I'm serious, Reborn."

"Of course," he murmured into his mug, taking a generous gulp before he just held it in his hands.

"I think he's good for you."

Letting the coffee trickle down his throat, warm and bitter but a tinge sweet, Reborn breathed out a content sigh. "I think so, too.

 **26\. Forever and a day  
**  
It was a strange thought that passed through his mind. Stranger, even, that it would come in absolute silence, when both he and Tsuna were doing nothing but minding their own business in the same space.

 _This is nice._

Reborn was never one for peace, for the stagnant lack of energy, of plotting, of action, but being here with Tsuna, guard down and free from the tension that colored his life a deep red, he could appreciate the appeal of it. This was different - mostly because Reborn was relaxed in the presence of an admittedly dangerous boss, _trusted_ Tsuna enough to know that he wouldn't try anything, and he liked being able to do this.

"You're face will get stuck," Tsuna commented when he spotted the smile on Reborn's lips, sounding amused even with the hint of wariness coloring his words. He was smiling too, though, and that was the only thing Reborn could pay attention to.

"It won't change the fact that I could still sweep anyone off their feet." He brought his eyes to meet Tsuna's, twinkling with humor, but his razor-sharp smirk made his next words walk between a threat and a challenge. "Would you like to find out?"

Tsuna looked at him, caught between surprise and something Reborn couldn't place before he laughed, a subdued sound still impossibly bright and-

Reborn made him laugh. _Reborn_ being himself made Tsuna laugh.

He really, really wanted to do it again.

 **27\. Lost and Found  
**  
Reborn was one of those people who didn't get lost. Knowing where he was, whether it was outside in the middle of nowhere or inside a building, was a skill pre-programmed in his mind, keeping him alive through the tougher terrains some jobs demanded, and Reborn never took it for granted. Skills like his were a blessing in his profession - or, perhaps, it was those skills that made him choose to be a hitman in the first place.

Either way, for the first time of his life, Reborn was lost - in the Vongola mansion, no less.

"It isn't polite to trap your guests in illusions," Reborn said, entirely unamused when he turned the corner only to find the same hall he just walked down spread before him.

"My apologies," an unrepentant voice spoke from behind him. Reborn didn't swivel around, but he did turn his head enough to see the speaker from out of the corner of his eye. "I hadn't realized you were a guest."

A head of purple hair and mismatched eyes, an aggravating smirk worn comfortably on his lips. Reborn filed through his memories of Tsuna's Guardians from the one instance he joined in on their chaos but couldn't pick out this man's profile. However, he saw as he slowly turned to face the illusionist, the woman beside him was vaguely familiar, someone he'd passed occasionally but never enough to stick in his memory.

Letting his flames simmer just beneath his skin, controlled but always ready to lash out, Reborn let a bland smirk decorate his lips. "What business do you have with me, Vongola Mist?"

A short pause and, when the man didn't make a move to speak passed the smirk he wore, the woman took a step forward, one eye locking him in place with a seriousness that belied her demure aura.

"A warning," she said, voice like silk wrapped around steel. Reborn warily regarded her as she took a step closer, then another. "Boss trusts you, but I won't hesitate for a second if you hurt him."

There was a split-second where Reborn thought _Why-_ before he realized where he was at. That just because he memorized the hallways, the placement of some rooms he frequented, how nobody would walk passed Tsuna's office on some days because he was neck-deep in work, it didn't mean that he was accepted by the people here. It was another kind of wonder that being so familiar with Tsuna brought, and his consequent lack of awareness was startling, if not mildly worrying.

It was easy to forget that there were people wary of him beyond the Tsuna's office when he was greeted with a smile or a frown, a chide or an exclamation, like he was a friend rather than a threat, and-

Reborn had never felt so determined about something before this.

"I don't have any intention of harming him," Reborn said, allowing his flames to dwindle into a dormant state as he regarded the two before him. He kept his gaze steady, let them see the honesty he rarely showed in his eyes, and watched as they glanced between each other before simultaneously nodding in supposed satisfaction.

"We'll hold you to that, Sun Arcobaleno," the man said, eyes twinkling with promise as a false smile pulled at the corner of his lips. He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around the woman's shoulders, and whisked them away with a regal, "Come, Nagi," as the illusion dissolved around them to reveal the grand doors of Tsuna's office.

Reborn stood there and stared for a moment, thought about what Tsuna's reaction my be to him actually using the door this time, and allowed himself a quiet moment of amusement before he turned the knob and took a step inside.

Just like every other time before, Tsuna greeted him with a smile.

 **28\. Light  
**  
"Your flames are bright," Tsuna commented one afternoon, pulling Reborn out of his light rest. His attention was on the small sun hanging from his neck, half-hidden behind a black tie. "The pacifier around your neck… It's- it suits you."

Reborn raised an eyebrow as though he didn't believe him, and Tsuna made a helpless gesture when he couldn't find a way to word his thoughts without sounding like he was reciting a poorly written poem. There just wasn't a way to say it without feeling embarrassed afterwards, especially since he knew Reborn wouldn't be above teasing him.

Tsuna did mean what he said though. People look at Reborn and see a man to be wary of, a man who lived and breathed death from the moment he learned to take a life, and Tsuna could admit that he was one of those people - up until the moment he remembered Reborn was just as human as he was. Even when he hid it behind a smirk and an indifferent air, his flames refused to do the same. They would shine whenever he smiled, bright like a piece of the sun tucked within his pacifier, or glow with the light of the morning when he was content. More and more often, Tsuna would see that tell-tale glow out in the open, uncovered from its hiding place tucked close to Reborn's heart.

It was a testament of Reborn's trust that he'd let go of the tight leash on his flames around Tsuna, and Tsuna couldn't help but feel that that was an accomplishment. He didn't plan on betraying that trust, not when Reborn seemed like someone who'd be hard-pressed to give it.

"Thank you," Reborn eventually said, a faint smile on his lips as he closed his eyes to rest again. Tsuna wanted to protest - he still needed to explain himself, after all, and Reborn had been coming here to fall asleep more often lately, leaving little time for Tsuna to actually talk to him without disturbing him - but his words fell slack when Reborn added, almost like an afterthought, "You're flames suit you too."

Momentarily surprised, Tsuna couldn't think of what to say other than a mildly confused, "Thanks."

 **29\. Dark**

Perhaps his flames were a foreshadow of his life, Reborn thought belatedly, stepping out from the alley to the sounds of wet, hacking coughs and groaning. Leon reverted back to his form as a chameleon and crawled up Reborn's arm to settle itself across his shoulders, tucking himself close around his neck. Reborn ran a finger across his head, petting him fondly before he adjusted his tie and continued on his way. The road was silent now; the dying now dead.

He took five steps, heard the familiar beat of rushing footsteps and the only thought that crossed his mind was a faintly surprised, _They're getting faster_ , before he whirled around to face the reinforcements.

As he ducked under the man who threw himself at him, dagger in hand and fury in his eyes, Reborn sent him crashing into a brick wall with a cruel kick to his abdomen. He was knocked unconscious, but Reborn didn't expect him to persist beyond it. That man was just a prelude to what was to come, an easy opponent to bring his guard down, to make him think that he'd already won. Assassination was a familiar friend, the routine as easy as breathing, and Reborn did just that.

He breathed it in, let it fill his lungs, give him life, and thrived with death lurking in his hands and blood foul on his tongue.

He took the other four more men down in the span of a minute and adjusted his fedora with a put-off sigh, disappointed. The pacifier usually hidden from prying eyes had slipped out into the open in the brief scuffle, glowing a deep gold in the black of the night, but he didn't tuck it away behind his dress shirt as he usually did. He had never liked his flames, Sun as they were, but he didn't _hate_ them either. They were bright, powerful flames, a guiding light in the dark, and they-

They didn't _fit_ , not really. Bright flames made for darker shadows, and if anything that was the only thing Reborn could relate to with his flames, but he would remember quiet words spoken on a comfortable afternoon, eyes locked on his pacifier burning bright, honest enough that Reborn couldn't convince himself otherwise - still can't - and he'd cave.

" _It suits you._ "

More lackeys appeared to surround him, but Reborn didn't make Leon shift back despite the prod of his tail on his neck. This was easier, better, because Reborn could hide the inane smile tugging at his lips behind his fists and brutal punches.

God, he was hopeless.

 **30\. Faith**

It was when Reborn came back from an arduous job with Colonello as his only company that Tsuna and his Guardians on hand were preparing to leave. To where, Reborn didn't know, just that the details couldn't be disclosed to him and that they all looked like they were out for blood, even the youngest - the Lightning Guardian - wore a grim frown on his face as he listened intently to what the Storm Guardian was furiously telling him in not-so-hushed tones. Reborn didn't eavesdrop, though it would have been easy and was already tempting, but he knew his bounds and if wasn't allowed to know, then he wasn't allowed to know.

(But if a few words slipped into his ears unbidden - well, Tsuna should teach his Guardians to talk a little quieter.)

"How did your job go?" Tsuna asked as his Guardians gathered a little ways off behind him, discussing their plan of action. He adjusted the odd ring wrapped around his middle finger that was chained to a smaller ring on his pinky. Reborn's eyes were momentarily drawn to it, having never seen it before now, but he was quick to make the connection that it was the Vongola Gear unique to Vongola Decimo and his Guardians.

So much power held in such an unassuming piece of jewelry. The weight of his pacifier cool against his chest made him think of his own _ring_ , as strange as it was to call his pacifier one. It served the same purpose as the rings worn by almost every other mafioso, though with some modifications to it, so perhaps it wasn't so terrible of a descriptor after all.

"Fine, if listening to Colonello recite Lal's otherworldly greatness every second of downtime we had is something someone would _want_ to put themselves through." Of course, it wasn't just about Lal; Colonello would more often poke him about his "status" with Tsuna and attempt to rile him up with prodding questions and a stupid grin that refused to melt under the scathing heat of Reborn's glare, but Reborn wasn't going to tell Tsuna that. Instead, he nodded towards Tsuna's Guardians, who looked on the verge of fighting each other, much less their future opponent. "Shouldn't you be over there?"

Glancing over his shoulder, Tsuna couldn't repress the sigh and fond roll of eyes at the sight of his Guardians. "I should - and I will - it's just..." He looked back at Reborn, eyes searching for something Reborn already knew he didn't have. But he smiled in the end, bright and filled with warmth, and Reborn wondered what he had found there to make him smile like that. "We'll be back soon."

There should've been little relief in that, but Tsuna was honest and strong and the confidence backing his words was enough to make the taut line of Reborn's shoulders relax anyway. It was nothing short of a surprise; Reborn hadn't noticed his concern was visible. He hadn't realized he was concerned at all until he'd heard the small promise that Tsuna would come back.

"I wouldn't expect anything less," Reborn said, words a little stiff and mind a thousand miles away. But he meant them.

He had no doubts that Tsuna would come back.

* * *

 **A/N:** Thanks again for reading and also to those of you who fav'd, followed, or left a review!


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N:** It's been a while! Here are some prompts!

* * *

 _challenge_

* * *

 **31\. Colors**

A rainbow of colors flashed before Tsuna's eyes, hot and dangerous and tempered to be weld by hands that wanted to hurt. There were many of them, and Tsuna knew the moment he sensed the first wisps of flames that he and his Guardians would be outnumbered.

It didn't matter. These were people who had taken his men, broke them and beat them with grins on their lips and enjoyment shining in their eyes, and Tsuna may be a pacifist on most days but not this time. His precious people had been hurt, and he had come to _harm_.

"No mercy," he had said, eyes glowing bright with orange-red rage. His Guardians hadn't said anything, just looked back at him with equally grim faces and nodded.

Each and every one of them would see why Vongola was not to be messed with.

 **32\. Exploration**

 _Do you want to hold their hand?_

Reborn glared at the question, then looked over the laptop's screen to Fon's smiling eyes.

"I don't see what this has to do with anything," Reborn said, scrolling through the rest of the quiz while catching glimpses of the next couple of questions. He grimaced. "This is something lovesick idiots do, Fon. I don't need a _test_ to know what my feelings are."

"You _are_ a lovesick idiot," Fon retorted with a smile on his lips. "How long has Vongola Decimo been gone? A few days? A week at most? You've been staring out the window and sighing every day since."

Reborn refrained from going for Leon, who was sprawled across his lap, and settled for a blistering glare directed at Fon. "Tsuna's been gone for four days - and I haven't been sighing. I finished more than enough jobs since he left."

"Forget about that," Colonello said from beside Fon. "Keep filling out the test, kora."

"Was this _your_ idea?" Reborn said, his disgust undisguised when he flicked his steely look over to the blond. "I should have known. Only a child would think of something as obtuse as this to figure out their own feelings."

"It's not childish!" Colonello snapped back.

Reborn glanced back at the test, saw _Do you know their favorite color?_ , and levelled Colonello with a deadpan stare. "Right." He clicked on the bubble next to _Yes_ and went on to the next question. "I bet this is what you did, Colonello, when your thick head couldn't figure out that you were head over heels for Lal."

Colonello's silence was telling.

Fon snickered behind his sleeve. Reborn rolled his eyes.

 **33\. Seeing Red**

Reborn was making his way into the Vongola mansion when Tsuna and his Guardians returned, battered and bloody and worse for wear. If it were any other situation, Reborn would have sauntered up to them without batting an eye because he knew they were capable, knew they were strong enough to protect themselves, but this wasn't any other situation. Reborn stopped in his tracks and felt dread root him into place.

Tsuna was there, limp in between his Storm and Rain, who had both thrown an arm over their shoulders and were hastily moving at the Sun's orders, and all Reborn could see was red. His feet moved on their own, step by step until he was running over to where Tsuna was. Up close, Reborn saw a different kind of red, one that made his hands fist and breath leave him at the sight of it.

"Hey, Sun Arcobaleno, move it!"

 _What happened?_ he wanted to demand, but Reborn wasn't an idiot, could see how dire the situation was, so he stepped aside. The rest of Tsuna's Guardians followed after them, the female Mist Guardian trailing at the end.

When she passed, eyes trained ahead at her Sky, she said, "Boss will be fine."

Reborn knew that. He didn't need anyone telling him that Tsuna would pull through because Reborn knew he wasn't weak, knew that Tsuna wasn't someone who would just off and die, but-

"I know," Reborn said, feeling his shoulders relax.

It was still reassuring to hear.

 **34\. Shades of Grey**

It was quiet. Boring. Monotonous. Reborn wondered how he'd lived like this, traveling only to kill and speaking only to gather information - or to lure targets into a trap.

Each day was job after job, kill after kill, on repeat. Clockwork. No room to breathe, only a few hours for sleep. He'd wake up before sunrise and start it over from the beginning.

Quiet. Boring. Monotonous.

"Are you all right, Reborn?" Aria had asked when she caught him slipping into the Giglio Nero base in the dead of the night. He didn't ask why she was up this late; she didn't ask him. "You've been restless."

"I've been busy," was all Reborn offered before he passed her and went to his room, Aria's knowing eyes heavy on his back.

He didn't visit Tsuna.

His world was quiet.

(He missed him.)

 **35\. Forgotten**

Tsuna slumped against the counter, resting his head on the cool surface, and tried to fight the pounding headache taking over his thoughts to no avail.

"Am I dying?" he muttered to no one in particular. He eyed the lights overhead, dim in reality but bright as hell with alcohol in his system, and squeezed them shut when a rainbow of color shot passed him and destroyed the wall just a few feet away. He groaned at the noise and buried his face into his arms.

"Fortunately for you, you're not," a voice said next to him, calm despite the cacophony of the world upending itself, shattering like glass. "Unfortunately, you're alcohol intake is terrible. I wouldn't be surprised if you felt like you were dying."

Tsuna only snatched a few words and managed to string then together in a single coherent sentence: _You're not dying._ He groaned even louder this time and didn't take his face out of his arms when he refuted it with a plaintive, "I _am_."

"Doesn't look like it."

"I _will_ ," Tsuna said with all the certainty of a dazed man with half his conscience numbed with alcohol. He forced himself to sit up, eyes narrowed part because of the lights and part because he was irritated, and glared at the man sitting next to him. He was going to say something - maybe argue with him because it was _Tsuna_ who felt like dying, not _him_ \- but then his attention was caught by something else and he stopped.

The man raised a brow. "What?"

"They're curly." Reached out to touch it and was belatedly surprised when the man didn't avoid it. His dark eyes were piercing though, enough so to make him think _dangerous_ even through his alcohol-haze. He settled back in his seat, struggled for a moment, and said, "Sorry."

"You're awfully touchy," the man said, pulling his sideburn straight and letting it bounce back. He looked into flickering brown eyes, saw the way orange flames brightened and dimmed in unfocused eyes, and felt something like intrigue grip him. "What's Vongola's heir doing, getting wasted in a rundown bar?"

Tsuna stared at him, then immediately slumped over the counter again, hiding his face away. "Didn't… want to be anyway."

"But you are."

"And I'm going to _die_ ," Tsuna moaned, half-whining. "I'm not- I can't- Everyone's going to- to die because of _me_."

There was a sound that sounded suspiciously like a sniffle.

"Just don't let them die."

Tsuna grunted. He didn't sound happy. "That's -" He hiccuped and coughed. "That's easier said than... than - " How'd it go again? " - than done." That was it.

Tsuna didn't hear what the man said in reply - if he did at all - but when he peeked up at him through his hair and saw the way his lips were pulled into an amused smile, he couldn't help but mumble a barely there, "You're not very helpful, but your smile's pretty."

A startled blink was all Tsuna could see before he closed his eyes and slipped into the warmth of his flames.

 **36\. Dreamer**

Tsuna dreamt of blood and charred flesh, of blood on his fingers, dripping down his cheeks, of screams and pleas, of bright orange flames engulfing everything around him.

Strangely enough, it wasn't a nightmare.

When he woke, he realized it was a memory, realized that the warmth he had vaguely remembered wasn't his flames but the phantom feeling of his red-hot rage, realized that the blood on him then was more so his than anyone else's.

(He thought, briefly, that it may have been him screaming, too.)

Turning onto his side despite the ache in his bones, Tsuna breathed out a sigh and went back to sleep. Dreams would hold him under for a while. Now, more than ever, he gladly preferred them over reality.

 **37\. Mist**

"Viper."

"Mammon," the Mist Arcobaleno corrected sharply. She shut the door behind her and made to sit across from Reborn before she thought better of it and floated per usual in front of him. "You're as lovesick as Colonello said you were."

"What are you doing here?" Reborn asked, ignoring the jibe. The wariness in his tone was obvious, as was his exhaustion.

"Aria sent me," Mammon said with a tinge of distaste. Aria was the only one that could get Mammon to do something without using money as an incentive - her, and Xanxus, who Tsuna talked about scarcely, though kindly when he did. Crossing her arms, she stared down at Reborn, eyes shadowed by the hood of her cloak. " _Stop sulking_ , she said."

"I'm not sulking."

"Whether or not you are is no concern to me," Mammon groused back, lips twisting into a scowl. "You made me waste time coming down here. Time is money, and unfortunately I'm not even getting paid for this."

"Then leave," Reborn said. He leaned back against the backrest and levelled Mammon with an unamused stare. Mist arcobaleno or not, Mammon seldom came to the Giglio Nero base, much less interacted with the other arcobaleno willingly. Aria, too, only ever talked to Mammon whenever they crossed paths. To see her here when she usually stayed around those in the Varia, meant no good.

Mammon clicked her tongue at him. "There's one more." She paused, looking as though she was deciding whether or not she should even tell Reborn, but said anyway, sour and more than grudging, " _Boss woke up_."

Reborn blinked. What?

He leaned forward, something sparking to life in his chest. He shoved it down. "Tsuna's - "

Before he could say anymore, Mammon cut him off with a sharp, "I'm not getting paid to answer your questions," and dissolved out of existence.

Left staring at empty space, Reborn ran a hand through his hair. He glanced at the unopened invitation sitting on the coffee table beside an opened letter. On it, in blocky print, was:

 _Duration: Two days_

 _Target: Groom_

Reborn heaved a sigh.

 **38\. Burning**

There was a boiling heat coiling deep in his gut.

"Tsuna, how are you feeling?"

He closed his eyes and let out a careful, controlled breath. Pushing down the blistering heat, Tsuna managed to say, in the calmest tone he could muster, "I'm feeling a lot better, Ryohei. I'm sorry for worrying you."

"Gokudera was about to blow a fuse," Ryohei chuckled as he stood by Tsuna's bed, eyes bright as he smiled at him. "Lambo also refused to leave until Yamamoto knocked him out, and Hibari left Hibird here for a while. We were all extremely worried, Tsuna."

Tsuna ducked his head somewhat guiltily. "I was careless."

"But you don't regret it."

Of course Ryohei could see through him. Tsuna quirked a small smile, fighting down the minute flinch at how it disrupted the heat spreading through him. "I don't."

Ryohei laughed and set a comforting hand on Tsuna's shoulder. "Then you shouldn't apologize. Everything should be fine now, Tsuna, so get some rest. You're going to be extremely sensitive to your flames for a while." He shot Tsuna a look, as if telling him _You can't hide these things from me_.

Tsuna wilted slightly at that. "Okay."

"Great! I'll keep everyone else away while you're resting and come to check up on you later." He stepped back and gave Tsuna a thumbs-up before he left, door clicking shut behind him.

Burying himself into the thin sheets, Tsuna ignored the scathing heat gnawing on his insides. It would be over soon. He'll wait it out by sleeping through it.

(It was just his luck that he could still feel it even in his sleep.)

 **39\. Out of Time**

There was nothing more frustrating than a target that ran, though there was something even more aggravating about a target that did absolutely nothing to save themselves. It was boring when they did that, stand there and accept their fate even before Reborn backed them into a corner, and Reborn could admit that the targets that didn't do anything - didn't make chasing them down _fun_ \- were the worst. On any other day, he'd thank his luck whenever his hits made his job interesting.

Today, though, his target was running. Reborn wanted nothing more than to grab him by the neck and make him beg for mercy.

(But that would take too much time, would be too much of a waste, when all Reborn wanted was to end this as quickly as possible.)

When Reborn managed to corner his target, a man no older than forty and terribly unfit to be anything but a frightened nobody, he smiled.

"Chaos," he said when he backed his target into a corner. Leon clambered down to his waiting hand and shifted into a gun.

"W-wait a second," the man said, stumbling backwards until his back hit the wall. He was shaking, hands waving frantically in front of him. "Who's asking you to do this? How much- ? I'll give you as much as you want! Just let me go!"

Reborn clicked his tongue, took a step closer, saw the way the man cowered at the sight of him. "Unfortunately for you, what I want is something you can only give me when you're dead."

As it had always done before, steady and sure, Reborn's hand didn't hesitate when he pulled back the trigger.

 **40\. Knowing How (to Love)**

If he were a lesser man, the lack of moonlight would have probably hindered Reborn's attempt to get into the Vongola base via window. As it was, he huffed an aggravated breath when the locks finally clicked and slipped into Tsuna's office. Normally, Tsuna would have kept it unlocked - something he had started to do after the fourth time Reborn had picked the lock - but he wasn't here to do that now. Whether or not that was a good sign was something Reborn would have to find out.

After memorizing the floor plans and visiting for a while now, Reborn knew the layout of Vongola's base as intimately as he knew his kill count. Still, it didn't mean he necessarily went to each individual room outside of Tsuna's office, the basement, and the kitchen - the latter of which he only knew because Tsuna's Guardians occasionally forced him to take breaks, and Tsuna would more often than not bring him along too.

Stepping out into the empty hallway, Reborn decided he'd go and check Tsuna's room before heading over to the medical wing. It was closer; there'd be less people around to avoid.

So he went, and the moment he reached his room and turned the knob, his gun was out and aimed between the narrowed eyes of Hibari Kyouya.

"Sun Arcobaleno," he said, clipped and indifferent. Reborn would have thought he couldn't have cared less about Reborn's appearance had he not caught the way his fingers wrapped tight around his tonfas. Dark eyes regarded him, assessing. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to visit," Reborn replied. His eyes flicked over Hibari's shoulder to the empty bedroom, Tsuna nowhere to be found. "He's still in the medical wing?"

Hibari kept his eyes trained on him but didn't answer. Instead he slipped passed him, purposely shutting the door, and said, "Room fourteen."

Reborn watched him leave and let out a light sigh, turning on his heel to head where he remembered the medical wing was. Tsuna's Guardians were hostile things, protective, but they cared for Tsuna and seemed to trust Reborn enough. For that, he was glad; there were few people he trusted and even fewer who trusted him, though the addition of the Vongola Guardians made that list substantially longer.

When he entered the medical wing, he spotted Tsuna's Sun Guardian skimming through papers with a bleary look in his eyes, more than likely tired from the day. He glanced up at Reborn, recognition flickering passed his eyes even though Reborn had exchanged a grand total of _zero_ words with him.

He tilted his chin when their stare-down stretched for too long. "Go ahead. Room fourteen. He's still sleeping though, so be extremely quiet."

Reborn nodded, feeling vaguely nonplussed by how readily Tsuna's whereabouts was given to him, and made his way down the hall to Tsuna's room. Forgoing knocking, he went in and found Tsuna turned on his side, back to him. Weak moonlight drifted through the window, not nearly enough to make out the finer details of the room, but it was enough to see. He stood there for a moment, silent, waiting for Tsuna to wake at his presence, but nothing happened. Tsuna slept on.

Reborn stepped closer until he was by the bedside and looked down at the sleeping brunet, watched his shoulder rise and fall with each breath, and felt something in his world right itself after being wrenched out of place for so long.

 _Idiot_ , he wanted to say, exasperated but fond.

Instead, he set a hand on Tsuna's head, let his fingers sift through his hair, and said: "Welcome back."

* * *

 **A/N:** Prompt #35 totally gives away what fandom I've been while writing this - at least in my eyes. Haha! I couldn't resist, honestly. Other than that, thanks for reading!


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